Volunteering

Follycon needs you!

All Eastercons rely on volunteers to run them – both in the planning stages and at the convention itself. Follycon has no paid staff; all the committee and other volunteers are doing this in our spare time and, like any hobby, at our own cost.

If you think you might like to get more involved in helping Follycon to happen, read on.

Why volunteer?

Not every Eastercon member needs to volunteer – but it makes things easier for everyone else if lots of people do!

We will need help with all types of tasks: some starting soon and continuing up to the convention, some as a discrete and quite short-term project, and some helping with really practical things at the con itself. Some tasks can be done by individuals, although many will be as part of a team. Some will involve being creative, some being organised, and some both at once.

As well as the satisfaction of contributing to an event that many more people can also enjoy, volunteering can be a good way to meet more people. Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer or a first-timer, your help will be valued by the committee and by other Follycon attendees.

How to get involved

If you already expressed interest in helping out, thank you. We’ll keep you up-to-date with what’s going on and what specific help we need.

More generally, please fill in our online form and let us know what you’re interested in and what you can do – at the con, or in advance, or both. The form includes some specific areas of the convention where we know we’ll need some help, with some more information about what that could involve, but you don’t have to pick a single area if you’re willing to help out more generally.

If you’d like to help but you’re not sure how you could, let us know, and we can tell you more. Any experience you’ve got from running other conventions or events could be useful, as could skills and experience at work, from your studies or with other leisure activities.

Above all, we need people who enjoy science fiction and want to contribute to making Follycon an enjoyable and inspiring experience for everyone involved. The only essential skill is to be willing to help.

Expressing interest in volunteering won’t commit you to anything at this stage, and you can choose the amount of time you are willing to give and when you are available – including at the con itself. (This means, for instance, that you won’t have to miss out on any programme items you really want to see.)

Thanks in advance for your help. If you’ve got any other questions about working on Follycon, email us via volunteers@follycon.org.uk.